Following the arrival of Brazilian winger Malcolm at Barcelona, there have been claims that Dembele could exit the Catalan outfit, just a year after signing for them for a stunning £97m from German club, Borussia Dortmund.

The 21-year-old struggled for game time and form last term, an issue not helped by injuries; he has been linked with a move away from the La Liga leaders.

Unai Emery is said to be a big fan of the player, which could play a part in Dembele’s decision making, given that he believes he doesn’t have the full trust of his current manager, Ernesto Valverde.

What would the Arsenal team look like with Dembele in attack? We hazard a guess…

Goalkeeper

Bernd Leno impressed in the 5-1 mauling of PSG over the weekend in the International Champions Cup and will be confident of being number one come the start of the season. He made good saves and looked assured.

Defence

At left-back, Sead Kolasinac has played a lot in this pre-season and has shown signs that he is likely to improve on last year’s disappointing performances. With Nacho Monreal still not back following his World Cup exertions, Kolasinac has capitalized.

Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos should form what would be a great centre-back partnership; the latter is an aggressive, front-foot defender. At right-back, Hector Bellerin must use some of that devastating pace of his to wreak havoc on opposition players; we might hope that he can, perhaps, acquire some of the dark arts after training with Stephan Lichtsteiner.

Midfield

Emery favours a two-man defensive midfield pivot. One slot should be reserved for Uruguayan anchor man, Lucas Torreira, who was signed from Sampdoria in a £25m deal. Alongside him should be Aaron Ramsey, who will be tasked with connecting the midfield and attack with his tireless running and forward passes.

Further up the pitch, Henrikh Mkhitaryan should start, officially, on the left, but with instructions to cut inside and link with others. In the hole, Mesut Ozil is shoe-in and will be tasked with the responsibility of finding that killer final pass. Ousmane Dembele, meanwhile, would be able to play from the right and make intelligent decisions with the ball to cause damage – if he joined, of course.

Attack

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang showed what he can do last term after joining the club in January. He scored 10 times in 13 appearances, and is expected to build on that in his first full campaign at the Emirates Stadium; could he even be in with a shout of finishing as top goalscorer?